Is My Computer Good Enough, and What Else Do I Need?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Natek53
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Natek53

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My band has been playing together for a little while now, and would like to start recording some stuff. I'd like to record digitally onto my computer, but i want to make sure i have all the stuff I need and that the rest isn't too expensive.

I'm using a Pentium 2 or 3 (can't remember) 700 mHz computer. 20gig hard drive, and I have a SoundBlaster Live! soundcard, which i think has 3 line-outs, and 1 line-in. I got a copy of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. We also have a CAD 22A mic.

To start recording music on my computer what other equipment do i need, and is this computer hardware/software sufficient? We will need to record my guitar, a bass, drums, and vocals. I assume that we would record all four seperatly and then mix them together?

Any help you can give me would be appriciated. I don't want "pro" equipment, just enough to get us started recording stuff that sounds somewhat decent. Thanks a lot.

Nathan
 
How much money do you have??? You can record with what you have but the sound will not be there with one or 2 mic's. Maybe and Aardvark or a Delta soundcard with mulitple inputs would help but they can get costly depending on which one you get.
 
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We don't have a buget, but have a fair amount of money. We just were planning on not spending all of it. Maybe 500 dollars max. Anyway, how could I record with what I have? Wouldn't I need a mixer or a preamp of some sort? If so, can you suggest any?

Nathan
 
Your computer should have plenty of beef to record up to 8 tracks at a time, which should be enough to get you started.

What I would suggest is ditch the SB Live, first. SB cards are notorious for not being good for serious audio work (like recording multi-track audio).

Check into a used Echo Layla, maybe - Echo makes good gear, their tech support is great, and I've seen these on eBay for between $300-$375 - that gives you 8 inputs, 10 outputs, digital ins and outs, and expandablity if you ever need it (just add another Layla!).

You're also going to need a mixer and some mics, basically however much you want to record at once - ie. if you want to have 6 mics on the drums, you need at least a 6-channel mixer and 6 mics!

The minimum? Get a really good audio card *made for music*, a good two-channel mic preamp, and at least a Shure SM 57 (a do-everything dymanic) and a decent condenser (you can get some Oktava MC-012s, they make great overhead pairs for drums, for $200 a pair at Guitar Center.)

You *can*, definitely, record with what you have. But adding a few key components can make your recording not only better, but easier as well.

good luck.

- housepig.
 
one more thing - if you go the mixer route instead of the mic preamp route, I would get a used Mackie rather than a new Behringer - a used Mackie will be more solid, better sounding, and retain more of it's resale value than a Behringer will.

- housepig
 
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